Posts Tagged ‘solar’

As the boom in fracking wells in the northern Appalachian Marcellus shale region now produces seven times more natural gas (methane) than in 2010, the implications for policy and impacts on the energy market are starting to show. Read More

A hot chase over models began soon after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released draft CO2 rules June 2. Reducing CO2 (carbon-dioxide, the climate-altering pollution) in the electricity sector is not a mystery, but expecting too much from a model can be frustrating. With the CO2 rules, we have entered a new era, triggering a great clamoring amongst policymakers and advocates to get comfortable with the models. Temperatures are rising, and it is not just the hot summer weather. Read More

The use of coal to produce electricity in the United States has been declining in recent years. Yet for most states still heavily dependent on coal-fired power, the cost of importing coal continues to be a drain on local economies. According to a new Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) analysis, 37 states were net importers of coal in 2012, paying a total of $19.4 billion to import 433 million tons of coal from other states and even some foreign countries. Instead of sending billions of ratepayer dollars out of those states year after year, consumers would be better served by investing more in local renewable energy development and energy efficiency measures. Read More

Contrary to the public assertions made this week by some of our climate scientist friends, nuclear power is likely to have a limited near-term role in avoiding the worst impacts of climate change. Renewable energy technologies are cheaper, less risky, and ready for deployment today. A look at where things stand with both nuclear and renewables bears all that out. Read More

What would happen if we tried to make the electric supply 30% wind and solar? Air pollution goes down, and reliability is unaffected. Ok, now picture adding as much as 50,000 MW of wind and 60,000 MW of solar by the year 2026, and the engineers saying, “Sure, we can do that.”

That’s the finding of a study previewed today by the grid operator PJM and a consulting team led by General Electric. Read More

Members of the Ohio Senate Public Utilities Committee heard testimony this week on two bills that would roll back Ohio’s renewable energy and energy efficiency standards. Backed by fossil-fuel funded special interest groups and their political allies, these proposals would undermine Ohio’s emerging clean energy industries and make the state even more dependent on coal and natural gas. Read More

Second-quarter U.S. solar results show a sector on the move, with strong growth, declining costs, and a great future. The results, from the Solar Energy Industries Association and GTM Research’s just-released Q2 report, show that the last quarter alone brought 832 megawatts (MW) of new solar photovoltaic (PV) and concentrating solar power (CSP) capacity, the industry’s second-best quarter ever. Read More